Once in a while you end up with a position that is noteworthy just by dint of its peculiarity. You will see that white is a rook up but his queen and king have become the unfortunate victims of the black rook when he played 36... Rh8. Well, there is a way out. I played 37. Rf7+ Kg1 (forced) and then 38. Ra8+ wins it for white even after 38...Qb8. My king and queen remained skewered by the rook.

I misplayed this ending, and ended up with a draw. My excuse, it was a blitz game. What else? Sometimes, this rule that we have to centralize our king in the endings gets in the way of a won game. But, it is when to apply the rule or not is what makes chess a game of good judgment. My immediate inclination was to get my king into the action, and I played 42. Kf2? Bad move. The trick here was to push the D pawn immediately where the black king would catch up to it at d7. By then, the bishop can support the pawn while the white king moves up to confront black's G & H pawns. In some variations, there are themes of zugswang. The pivotal point here is that black's king is tied down to the defense of D8, and his counterpart is free to roam.

Oh, how wonderful it is to find humor in missed opportunities. One thing that chess surely teaches everyone is that no one is infallible. There are optical illusions, and there are quirks of the brain. My opponent may have two pieces for a rook, but I had two more pawns on the queenside. I had just played my rook to d2, intending to double up on the f2 square with my other rook, when my opponent relied with Bd1??? I was so fixated on my plan that I simply decided that the e2 square is no longer mine. So, like any red-blooded chessplayer, I grabbed a pawn, Rb2. Sometimes, I need a mate in one to land and peck me on the head.

Who has never lost a game? Tell me, who? If we go over our games and identify where we erred, we should also critically look at how we behave after losing a game. It's not a problem for most people. Most people possess the maturity and the grace to not take away anything from the winner. But you've met the people who I've met, those who are uncouth enough to demean your victory. They may not be exactly the same people, but essentially they are. I defeated a young man once who declared our game " boring " and left without showing me how much more exciting the game could have been. And there was this guy who kept staring at me after I played a move that turned his winning game into a draw, like I wasn't suppose to do my best for my own interest. I don't see any problems with the game, but I see them in the people who play the game. Take a look at Korchnoi against Peter Leko. Yes, this is just one more manifestation of Korchnoi's crankiness. The dismissive wave of his hand in the end could only mean, " Your game is crap and you shouldn't have won the game. "

This one is from a blitz game, g/5, at Playchess.com. You're looking from Black's point of view so lower left corner is actually the H8 square. I despise a pesky, forky, and treacherous knight, much more two of them. There comes a time in a man's life when safety in simplicity is preferred over glory!

Hey, a won game in hand is better than two on the pairing board. So, when my opponent played 34. Nb6-d7, I went 34...Rf2+ 35. Nf2 Rf2+ 36. Kg3 Rd2 and I was able to promote the C pawn several moves later. Don't fool around with a good thing!

Here's a great video of Karpov and Kasparov in their world championship match in 1987 in Seville. You can see Karpov fidget under pressure although he had the advantage. We all know how that feels, don't we? So you can follow the moves, I am reproducing the position on the board at the point where Karpov played 53. Bh6, attacking Kasparov's queen on f8.


As you can see, Karpov was a rook up for Kasparov's isolated passed pawn and a 2-1 pawn majority on the kingside. Fritz gives white a +-3.83 advantage over black. In the comments section of the video, there was mention about Kasparov losing his queen, and this is actually not the case. The moves went 53. Bh6 Rd3 54. Bf8 Rh3+ 55. Kg2 Rg3+ 56. Kh2 Rg1 57. Bc5 d3. 1-0 . It would be wrong for Karpov to take the rook ( 58. Kg1) because the D pawn will promote. The move here is 58. Bb4.

There's no happiness no matter what. Last Monday night, the club, Dumont Chess Mates, had a scheduled 4-round G/10 tournament wherein I scored four wins and two losses with two games per round/opponent. Yeah, it should have been eight games but we ran out of time and several players expressed their willingness to cut it down to three rounds. We had to be out of the Teaneck Jewish Center by 11 pm. The club will be meeting there throughout this Summer. Six games of G/10 was good enough for me actually. I was beginning to tire and an onsetting headache made me want to not think anymore. Ah, it would be nice to have the stamina and retentive powers of a young person but at fifty-two years I am already qualified to play in seniors only tournaments. Anyway, when my son asked about my results, he said that winning four out of six was good. Good? I don't think and feel so. Like most chessplayers, I relive the blunders in my head and curse the moments when I made mistakes. It's always, " I could have done better. " Chess is hard on and off the board, and the emotional toll is definitely there.